Saturday, April 24, 2010

It always surprises me when people say they don't like parsnips, I figure they really must not have tried them because this vegetable is a certainly a treat in my book. Right now you can get over-wintered parsnips in the farmer's market. These parsnips have had the winter to build up sugars & are at their sweetest & tastiest making them perfect for baked goods. (They're also great roasted or mashed.)I was inspired to make these parsnip muffins after we had the parsnip cake for dessert at our Pork Belly class Wednesday. Then Mr. Orph over at Mr. Orph's Kitchen posted a carrot cake that he flavored with a chai spice blend. I thought that was a brilliant idea & decided to use garam masala to flavor mine. Ok, we absolutely loved the favor it added to the these. Then I added pistachios for a good crunch & some raisins for a little sweetness. These muffins rose beautifully & were quite light compared to a lot of other carrot-type muffins I've had. We seriously loved these muffins!I went back & forth about whether to call these muffins or cupcakes. Matt thought they were a little more of a muffin but topped with a little Devonshire cream like we did last night (or perhaps some cream cheese frosting) these make a really tasty dessert. Plain they were perfect with our scrambled eggs for breakfast. Next time someone tells me they don't like parsnips I'm going to give them one of these muffins without telling them what's in it & watch the conversion begin.

***Update 4/28: there was originally a mistake in the recipe with the amount of flour. It has been corrected.

In a medium bowl stir the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda & garam marsala together to blend. Set aside.

In a small bowl whisk the milk, vinegar, egg yolk & vanilla together. Pour into the flour mixture & stir until just blended. Fold in the parsnips, pistachios & raisins.

Prepare 6 muffin cups either with muffin papers or by buttering & flouring them. Fill the cups 3/4 full with the batter. Bake for 21 - 23 minutes until the muffins are golden brown & a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

14 comments:

Parsnip cake! Now why not? I never thought to use them in this application, but it would be just perfect. And the Indian spices make this even more intriguing. I'm not a fan of "too sweet" desserts, so something like this is right up my alley.

I've only had parsnips a couple times with roasted winter veggies. I can definitely see how they would go well in a muffin. These look delicious. Oh, and definitely go with muffin because it is an excuse to eat them for breakfast even if they are more of a cupcake. :)

I have to admit I'm not a fan of parsnips. I tried to like them because we get a lot with the CSA. Even the smell of them boiling turns me off (I put them in for a veggie broth). I'm going to try them one more time because this recipe looks wonderful

I remember your pork belly/Corner Table post and the comment about how parsnip cake isn't commonly served because it's not terribly popular. I knew that if I waited patiently, you'd show us how it's done! 8-)

I picked up parsnips for the first time at MFM last weekend and now I'm hooked. Thanks for sharing the sweet side of this veggie!

(P.S. Sorry if this is a repeat comment - I got an error message the first time I submitted!)

I made these- thinking I would like them I made 4x what the recipe has... and still I wish I would have made more! They are fabulous. Like my mom said "Once I could (mentally) get over that they weren't supposed to be sweet and had this surprising kick/spice to them.. I realized I really like them!" They are a unique and fun muffin. I have been eating them for breakfast, without any cream/butter/frosting, and it is a warming breakfast treat!